Graduation Exams Arguments Page Eleven percent of the California class of 2006 would not have received a diploma with Exit Exam requirements!Caption: Attorney Arturo Gonzalez, back, stands with plaintiffs, Mayra Ibanez, left, and Liliana Valenzuela following a news conference in San Francisco, Friday May 12, 2006. An Alameda County superior court judge granted a preliminary injuction suspending California's high school exit exam for the class of 2006, potentially allowing thousands of students who failed the test to graduate. The ruling affects 47,000 seniors, about 11 percent of the class of 2006, who have yet to pass both the English and math sections of the exam. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)
"060512018874.pdf". AP Images from AEA Online. 12 May 2006. AEA Online. 17 October 2010. <http://www.apimages.com/>.
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Evidence Against Graduation Exams
Works Cited Entry
Team Member Who Found This Information
1
Students that don't pass exit exams don't receive diplomas. Furthermore, students who struggle drop out of high school without a safety net to protect them. Academic outcomes are seriously in question for those on the fringe. Very often teachers claim that they are forced to 'teach to the test' while neglecting adequate time to teach materials not covered on the exit exam.
Warren, John Robert, and Eric Grodsky. "Exit Exams Harm Students Who Fail Them - And Don't Benefit Students Who Pass Them." Phi Delta Kappan. 90.9 (2009): 645-649
Becky
2
According to Warren, Jenkins and Kulick, (2006), state exit exams reduce high school graduation rates. In states with 'minimum competency' exit exams, graduation rates declined by about one percentage point. However, in states with 'higher competency' exit exams, graduation rates decline by almost twice as much, or two percentage points. Nationally, each percentage point reduction in the graduation rate means about 35,000 fewer students graduate from high school. Furthermore, exit exams have a greater impact on graduation rates in states that are more racially & ethnically diverse and have higher rates of poverty. This doesn't necessarily mean exit exams increase dropout rates of disadvantaged students more than advantaged students, but it is consistent with that claim.
Warren, John Robert, and Eric Grodsky. "Exit Exams Harm Students Who Fail Them - And Don't Benefit Students Who Pass Them." Phi Delta Kappan. 90.9 (2009): 645-649
Heather
3
Twenty states reported in 2004 that they have a high school graduation exit exam. More states plan to put them in place. California decided in 2003 to delay its exit exam for two years after a study found that 20 percent of its students would have flunked the test. Massachuetts students increased their scores on the math portion of the state exit exam from 48 percent in 1998 to 95 percent only five years later, which corresponded with the same year the state would withhold diplomas for those students who failed.
Schouten, Fredreka. "Study: U.S. High School Exit Exams Test Overseas Middle School Work." Gannett News Service June 4, 2004
Kay
4
Quality time and resources are taken from instruction because of the expense and time commitment involved in developing, implementing and scoring the exit exams. Students with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency or those that haven't had sufficient time to master the material being tested are at a huge disadvantage.
Warren, John Robert, and Eric Grodsky. "Exit Exams Harm Students Who Fail Them - And Don't Benefit Students Who Pass Them." Phi Delta Kappan. 90.9 (2009): 645-649
Becky
5
According to the long term trend component of the NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress], the group was asked whether exit exams increased the reading and math achievement of students between 1971 and 2004 as well as whether exit exams improved the achievement of students closer to the top and the bottom of the achievement distribution. Exit exams might do the most to improve the achievement of marginal students and the least to improve the reading or math test scores of already high-achieving students.
Warren, John Robert, and Eric Grodsky. "Exit Exams Harm Students Who Fail Them - And Don't Benefit Students Who Pass Them." Phi Delta Kappan. 90.9 (2009): 645-649
Heather
6
A report by Achieve, Inc., a nonpartisan group of governors and business leaders who back school reform and testing, concluded that New Jersey, Texas, and Massachusetts had the most difficult reading tests, and New Jersey was the only state to rely exclusively on essays to test writing.
Schouten, Fredreka. "Study: U.S. High School Exit Exams Test Overseas Middle School Work." Gannett News Service June 4, 2004
Kay
7
"Most competent adults could not pass the exams we are forcing on our children," said Schaeffer, public education director of The National Center for Fair and Open Testing in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Schouten, Fredreka. "Study: U.S. High School Exit Exams Test Overseas Middle School Work." Gannett News Service June 4, 2004
Kay
8
In recent years, a growing body of evidence suggests the nation's actual high school graduation rate is much lower than the 85% as was originally reported by CES [Center for Educational Statistics] and CPS, [Current Population Survey]. Christopher Swanson of the nonpartisan Urban Institute reported that in 2001, national graduation rates were recorded at 68%. However, when he broke down the numbers, 76.8 percent of Asian students graduated, 74.9 percent of white students finished high school, 53.2 percent of Hispanic students graduated, 51.1 percent of Native America students received their diploma and 50.2 percent for black students finished high school.
Shriberg, David, and Amy Burke Shriberg. "High-Stakes Testing and Dropout Rates." Dissent. 53.4 (2006): 76-80.
Becky
9
"The use of a single test as a graduation requirement is extremely controversial. Students commonly have to pass exams to get into college, but no other country in the world makes students pass a test simply to get out of high school. The American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Council on Measurement in Education, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Education Association, and even the PTA [Parent - Teacher Association] oppose the use of a single test to determine whether a student will graduate. Almost alone in its endorsement of using tests this way is the American Federation of Teachers."
Vine, Phyllis. "Put To The Test." City Limits. December, 2000: 24-28.
Becky
10
Employers, like many other members of the public, may believe exit exams have increased the academic achievement of high school graduates. However, when the researchers analyzed data from U.S. Census Reports between 1980 - 2000 as well as from 1984 - 2002 Current Population Surveys they found that young high school graduates who obtained their diplomas in exit exam states fared no better in the labor market than their peers who obtained their diplomas in other states. These findings held in states with minimum competency exit exams and in states with higher competency exit exams. They also held for students from different racial / ethnic backgrounds.
Warren, John Robert, and Eric Grodsky. "Exit Exams Harm Students Who Fail Them - And Don't Benefit Students Who Pass Them." Phi Delta Kappan. 90.9 (2009): 645-649
Heather
11
Several independent analysts confirm that the nation's graduation rate has been in decline since at least 1984 and has plunged even further since the 1990s. There is also evidence that many students are dropping out of school early in their high school career. Additionally, schools are more likely to hold students back to increase the proportion of students who pass competency exams - and the fact of being held back has been shown to increase a students' risk of dropping out.
Shriberg, David, and Amy Burke Shriberg. "High-Stakes Testing and Dropout Rates." Dissent. 53.4 (2006): 76-80.
Kay
12
States that have imposed graduation tests have seen their dropout rates shoot up. For example, in Texas when a graduation test was first introduced, the dropout rate for black and Hispanic students went up to 50 percent in a single year. Some believe these students who leave school tend to be among the poorer test-takers. However, because many who never take the test would have scored the worst, the test scores look strong.
Vine, Phyllis. "Put To The Test." City Limits. December, 2000: 24-28.
Becky
13
In Florida a complicated situation was uncovered. Students who don't do well on the state's graduation test are more likely to drop out, but this is true only for those students with 'moderately good grades.' Students with low grades were no more likely to drop out, but students with moderately good grades who did not pass the exam - students who would have graduated from high school in the absence of high stakes testing, were significantly more likely to leave school without earning their diploma.
Shriberg, David, and Amy Burke Shriberg. "High-Stakes Testing and Dropout Rates." Dissent. 53.4 (2006): 76-80.
Heather
14
In "Losing Our Future," student narratives include reports of being encouraged to drop out with little regarding for their future if they are at risk of failing the exit exams, as it would report as a negative curse on the school district they'd attended. There are accounts of students with low test scores who were actively discouraged - and even barred from re-enrolling. School officials then were able to officially categorize these students as having withdrawn from school because of lack of interest.
Shriberg, David, and Amy Burke Shriberg. "High-Stakes Testing and Dropout Rates." Dissent. 53.4 (2006): 76-80.
Heather
15
Another widely reported practice is the targeting of a disproportionate amount of school's resources toward borderline students, who can be pushed to pass the state's high stakes exam. Rather than trying to support students who most likely wouldn't pass the exams, school officials encourage them to drop out or transfer so their test scores do not trigger federal penalties raged on the districts.
Shriberg, David, and Amy Burke Shriberg. "High-Stakes Testing and Dropout Rates." Dissent. 53.4 (2006): 76-80.
Kay
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Evidence Against Graduation Exams
Works Cited Entry
According to Warren, Jenkins and Kulick, (2006), state exit exams reduce high school graduation rates. In states with 'minimum competency' exit exams, graduation rates declined by about one percentage point. However, in states with 'higher competency' exit exams, graduation rates decline by almost twice as much, or two percentage points. Nationally, each percentage point reduction in the graduation rate means about 35,000 fewer students graduate from high school. Furthermore, exit exams have a greater impact on graduation rates in states that are more racially & ethnically diverse and have higher rates of poverty. This doesn't necessarily mean exit exams increase dropout rates of disadvantaged students more than advantaged students, but it is consistent with that claim.
This page is a part of Phase 1, although you may continue to add to it throughout the project!Possible Resources for Arguments: EBSCO and SIRS (both AEA Online resources)